the stationery special interest is back in force

[kaberett]

Things I am spending lots of time on: shaking the internet to see if I can make Satisfying Review Blogs fall out. Earlier this week the focus was the Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter, which I do not want and am highly unlikely to ever acquire, but about which brain was Very!!! Definite!!! about read-ALL-the-reviews. This means that, for example, I am now aware of the existence of double pen-loop closures.

Other things that have crossed my radar:

• the King Jim Magflap Clipboard, as reviewed at The Pen Addict: I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS, PRIMARY AMONG WHICH IS "OKAY BUT YOU'RE SHOWING PAPERS PRINTED DUPLEX AND SOMEHOW TOTALLY FAILING TO ADDRESS THE QUESTION OF HOW YOU READ AND MARK UP THE REVERSE SIDES OF THE PAGES???"
• Midori metal index clips, inexplicably absent from their main website, which I have caved and ordered some of because the book darts aren't actually the right tool for the specific job I want done. (I am sincerely hoping that these actually are the claimed 0.15mm thickness, i.e. equivalent to the book darts, apparently resulting in a whole bunch of places claiming that the "paper" penguin clips are 0.15mm thick when they extremely are not. Unrelatedly, I have a set of Midori penguin clips that don't really work for what I'd intended them for...)
• as mentioned yesterday, the Leonardo MZG Juma dragon skin Blue, thankfully extremely sold out and therefore in no way shape or form a meaningful temptation
• the reason people keep referring to the Traveler's Notebook format as "A5 slim" is bECAUSE A BUNCH OF RETAILERS ARE DOING THIS. I! am having! a whole entire indignant autism! about THAT'S NOT HOW ISO STANDARDS WORK. >:(

Comments

[lokifan]

. I! am having! a whole entire indignant autism! about THAT'S NOT HOW ISO STANDARDS WORK. >:(

I know nothing about this but totally sympathise, as a pedant.

[davidgillon]

"Taschenbegleiter" - sometimes German just delights me ;)

"A5 Slim" - this is how we ended up with Imperial....

[cesy]

Ooh, that double pen loop closure is very clever. I recently discovered you can get stick on pen loops to add to an existing notebook, which improved my life.

[kaberett]

Yes! I wound up deciding that the pens hobby means that (at least for now) I want to carry More Than One Pen routinely, but if I ever coax myself down to regularly using Only One Pen (or alternatively More Pens Than Fit In My Current Notebook Cover) I will definitely be considering this option...

[alexseanchai]

what is "A5 slim" even supposed to mean?

[lunabee34]

It's literally just slightly slimmer than standard A5. I agree that it's an annoying size. I see B5 slim more often than A5, though.

[alexseanchai]

next silly question: iirc A4 is the closest approximation in the A standard to US letter size? so is "A5 slim" just (8.50 by 5.50 in) * (25.4 mm/in) = 216 by 140 mm?

[lunabee34]

Here's a good explanation of paper sizes:

https://www.jetpens.com/blog/Paper-Sizes-Explained/pt/836

[alexseanchai]

so a couple millimeters too short to be half US letter paper, okay

(if that was the case then I'd wonder why half US letter size is in use somewhere that expects the A standard paper sizes)

[lunabee34]

I have given up trying to understand these things. LOL

[kaberett]

Portrait A5 height; narrower widthwise. :|

[lunabee34]

I know what you mean about the Roterfaden. I have absolutely no use case for any of those kinds of notebook systems (Traveler's, Plotters, etc.), but they are so fascinating to me, and I also can't stop looking at them.

I was recently excited to see that Maruman Mnemosyne has released journal type notebooks, but I am sitting on my hands because I have so many notebooks.

[hilarita]

A5 slim -noooooooooo!

[judiff]

Stationery is always like some level of Special Interest for us…

We keep thinking about getting a vegetarian/not-leather cover/holder for Traveller’s Notebook refills (maybe that cork fabric so it’s not just like yet-more-evil-plastic?). But, like yeah, that’s not how A sizes work!